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A Rise in 'Dark' Shonen Manga?

I do know that there are a whole slew of dark shonen titles out there & the genre could be just evolving, but could we be getting to a point where more popular dark shonen titles (and not just one) rank high in the charts? I wonder if more titles like "Attack on Titan" and "The Flowers of Evil" (or even more "Death Note"-like titles) will be published.

What do you guys think?

"I'll send you flying.....TO THE END OF THE WORLD!" - Itsuki "Ikki" Minami (Air Gear)

Re: A Rise in 'Dark' Shonen Manga?

Dark is in. The Dark Knight, Star Trek into Darkness, Thor the Dark World, Man of Steel. Maybe some shonen are heading for a similar direction as summer movies. As long as a few series does it well then more demand will be created.

Re: A Rise in 'Dark' Shonen Manga?

Its interesting that this was a thread here and even focusing on Attack on Titan and seeing that which happened with it becoming 2nd biggest selling manga series this year and one of the most talked about in both the typical anime communities and even having some crossover to the non traditional following of manga and animated media.

I guess it does suggest that there is market for dark manga, however I think now we will just start seeings tons more. Problem with this focus in the genre is that at times people try to be way too edgy and cutting edge and try to make things depressingly suspenseful and killing off characters in gruesome ways with little regard for developing a good story and what not.

Re: A Rise in 'Dark' Shonen Manga?

I think Shounen manga with dark themes have always been there, especially in less popular magazines. So the market for such genre is always exist, just less known. I don't know if this is true but I believe the sharp increase of Shingeki popularity is one of the main reasons why there are some people who become more open minded about the dark story line in mainstream Shounen lately. I feel to some extent some Shounen titles in "90 are same or more as violent compared to SnK.

Re: A Rise in 'Dark' Shonen Manga?

My theory is since Shonen Jump was dominating the market and we know how shonen nowadays became too kiddified compared to previous decades and how a lot is toned down like violence and death and finding every excuse to bring dead characters back because God forbid the ratings will go down the drains if a fan favorite character died, with anime adaptations being a factor since it's even more toned down and doesn't take big chances in fear of PTA complaints, then no wonder dark shonen got more popular.

People seems to have gotten tired of these super predictable juvenile shonen manga and want to have something more edgy, more risk taking, and actually smartly written. Something doesn't screw around and does take itself seriously. And since Attack on Titan was a major success, then it proved that it's possible for dark shonen to get it as well.

Not to derail the topic, but "Dark Magical Girl" genre seems to have gained an increase as well with the success of Puella Magi Madoka Magica. We saw Gen'ei o Kakeru Taiyou that tried to do the same, and EFFed up manga "Mahou Shoujou of the End" and "Mahou Shoujo Site" (both by the same author) in which took a silly concept like Magical Girls and turned it to one of the most screwed up things I've ever read! And I think Gainax will give it a shot as well.

Re: A Rise in 'Dark' Shonen Manga?

Originally Posted by SHINOBI-03

My theory is since Shonen Jump was dominating the market and we know how shonen nowadays became too kiddified compared to previous decades and how a lot is toned down like violence and death and finding every excuse to bring dead characters back because God forbid the ratings will go down the drains if a fan favorite character died, with anime adaptations being a factor since it's even more toned down and doesn't take big chances in fear of PTA complaints, then no wonder dark shonen got more popular.

People seems to have gotten tired of these super predictable juvenile shonen manga and want to have something more edgy, more risk taking, and actually smartly written. Something doesn't screw around and does take itself seriously. And since Attack on Titan was a major success, then it proved that it's possible for dark shonen to get it as well.

Not to derail the topic, but "Dark Magical Girl" genre seems to have gained an increase as well with the success of Puella Magi Madoka Magica. We saw Gen'ei o Kakeru Taiyou that tried to do the same, and EFFed up manga "Mahou Shoujou of the End" and "Mahou Shoujo Site" (both by the same author) in which took a silly concept like Magical Girls and turned it to one of the most screwed up things I've ever read! And I think Gainax will give it a shot as well.

But did any of those get mainstream? Day Break Illusion seemed to not really have much in the way of sales success.

I dont think JUMPs audience cares for dark series, any that have started in the last three years have just failed to stick around.

Re: A Rise in 'Dark' Shonen Manga?

All I'll say is this: I look forward to the day when dark series become so over-saturated people will start getting sick of it.

As far as a rise, eh, maybe, but I've never been one to say dark=good so it's pretty irrelevant to me. you can be dark and suck balls, what people need to realize is that the the quality of writing is what needs a kick in the butt not the tone. Sure I don't follow every shonen series out there and the demographic sub gnere it's formed does need to mature in some areas (looking at you jump) but if everyone starts mimicking attack on titan the oversaturation could reach pretty much the same amount as it has for shonen and light novel based anime and in few years time there's gonna be a podcast on how it's "bringing down the community man!"

Re: A Rise in 'Dark' Shonen Manga?

I dunno, I don't really see anymore dark shonen manga than before. It's neat one of them is a best seller (Shingeki) but I don't really see any new trends. Even Jump has had plenty of "dark" manga run in it depending on how we want to define the term: First of the North Star, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Bastard!!, Hell Teacher Nube, Mind Assassin, Hoshin Engi, Mysterious Puppeteer Sakon, even Nuero got pretty dark, and those are just the ones I've personally encountered in one magazine. Honestly, sometimes it feels like there are less floating around.